Gotham City (Swe) - Black Writs [CD Reissue] (2024)

- Yellow 12" LP (ltd. 150) [Cult Metal Classics #CULTMETALGTHCTBWLP]

- Boxset (ltd. 200 numbered) (incl. 12" Red/Yellow Swirls LP, 12" Black Replica LP, CD, Cassette, A2 Poster)

Info/Interview from booklet
Ola: I remember before recording "Black Writs" my brother had given me an echo unit for my vocals. He had leukaemia and I made a bone marrow transplant, I think we were number seven in Sweden to do that. As a thank you he gave me the echo unit and helped finance the EP. Around this time we did our military service. Jonas received a discharge, but me, Mårten and Thomas did. Björn is a year younger than us, but he also got a discharge. I was granted a three day leave from the army to record the EP and we entered the studio in February 1983 to record. When we were finished in March, we were gonna be big rock stars! For "Black Writs" a friend of mine from the army, Anders Sellberg, did the artwork. The photo on the back, what you can't see is that we are standing knee deep in snow!

Björn: I remember we got some type of distribution deal with SOS Records. Back then we didn't know much about the music business and did most of the things wrong. We paid for the recording. A friend of ours, his father had a print shop, and he printed the covers, but they were only folded in the back, so we had to sit in the rehearsal room and fold and glue them ourselves. We received the discs in packs of 30 from Grammoplast press plant and had to put them in the sleeves ourselves. We printed 2000 copies, and we didn't receive a cent from SOS.

Ola: One Saturday in May 1983 we had a band meeting and at that meeting the other guys said - "We wanna be rock stars, so we have decided that Anders Zackrisson is going to be our new singer and we want you to be our manager”. I was so upset I just left and didn't talk to them again. They always used to talk about this guy Anders Zackrisson who was a great singer, so I should have seen it coming. I was really driven back then. I had quit swimming and I had the Saxon fan club and music was my passion. I had left the army and had no idea what to do so music was my priority. After that I got a job as a swim teacher for Ving Travel on Rhodes, Greece. I was going abroad for six months, and that's 42 years ago! From 1983-1991 I worked with Ving and SAS and lived in Greece, France, one winter in Gambia, the Canary Islands, two summers on Ibiza and in 1989 I moved to Majorca and lived there for 25 years. SAS was part owner of Spanair where I started working. I lived in Panama for a couple of years and now I live in Barcelona, working with airport contracts for Volotea airlines. It wasn't until 2002 I found out there was an interest in Gotham City! I haven't been into music since I left in 1983, but I didn't really have the talent, so I guess that was OK. I will admit I was a bit surprised and pissed off when I saw all the bootlegs so I'm happy they are being properly released now!

Björn: The way we handled the situation with Ola is really my bad conscience, but you didn't have any good people skills back in those days. At the same time as Gotham City, I was jamming a lot with Anders, who was originally a drummer but during one session he started singing and then I heard there was really something there. When he joined, he was supposed to rehearse the back catalogue, and we did a re-recording of the song "Gotham City". Just before we were going to record, someone played a prank on me. I was checking the speakers on the PA system and when I had my ear close to the tweeter, the PA was set to feedback. I went completely deaf and felt terrible. I remember the day after in the recording studio I had to stop playing in the middle of songs because of the pain in my ears. I couldn't hear anything, so that wasn't particularly pleasant, but at least it was documented.